title: MicroRNA-203 down-regulation is associated with unfavorable prognosis in human glioma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  MicroRNA-203 (miR-203) serves as a tumor suppressor or a tumor promoter in different human malignancies. However, its involvement in human gliomas is still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of miR-203 expression in gliomas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Real-time quantitative PCR was employed to measure the expression level of miR-203 in clinical glioma tissues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of miR-203 was reduced in high WHO grade glioma tissues compared with that in low WHO grade and normal brain tissues, and decreased with ascending tumor WHO grades (P < 0.001). The reduced miR-203 expression in gliomas was significantly associated with higher WHO grade (P < 0.001), lower KPS score (P = 0.008) and poorer disease-specific survival of patients (P = 0.001). More importantly, subgroup analyses according to tumor WHO grade revealed that the disease-specific survival of patients with low miR-203 expression in high WHO grades (III-IV) subgroup was significantly shorter than those with high miR-203 expression (P < 0.001), but no significant difference was found for patients in WHO grades I-II subgroup (P = 0.08).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data validate an important clinical significance of miR-203 in gliomas, and reveal that it might be an intrinsic regulator of tumor progression and a potential prognostic factor for this dismal disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Chongqing Red Cross Hospital, Chongqing City, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yangjia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wenyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005910:Glioma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011379:Prognosis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C546703:MIRN203 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: glioma; microRNA-203; prognosis; real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay